


vocalizations in the moments in between

by n7punk



Series: Outside of the War - She-ra canon stories [12]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: But only kind of sexually? You'll see, Canon Compliant, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Just A Lot Of Love Happening, Praise Kink
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:21:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,122
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24927607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/n7punk/pseuds/n7punk
Summary: It’s the morning after the end of the world and Adora opens her eyes to see Catra beside her. She cannot stop the love overtaking her and all the forbidden words she has wanted to say for years come spilling out.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: Outside of the War - She-ra canon stories [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1793227
Comments: 18
Kudos: 652





	vocalizations in the moments in between

**Author's Note:**

> Despite being part of a series, this work is standalone, though it fits in with my other fics. The only thing you really need to know is that Melog wouldn't fit on the bed so they slept on the floor beside it for the first night. I also forgot my own canon and put them both in Adora's sleep clothes - oops.  
> This fic woke me up at 5 a.m. and wouldn’t leave me alone (a running theme in my She-ra fanfiction) so here you go. Apologies from my dyslexic ass for any typos as usual. I just think Catra has a praise kink aprox. ten miles long and it wouldn't wait for them to get in bed together (like that) to show itself.

The dawn light doesn’t wake Adora like it usually does. Living under a military schedule all her life, she is accustomed to waking early. Even after moving to Bright Moon, she was so unused to sunlight from years in the Fright Zone that the morning sun shining into her room kept up the morning routine.

But now, the wave of magic across the world has caused an explosion of plant growth that even Castle Bright Moon has not been immune to. Vines and ivy have crawled up and over the castle walls and fall in a slowly swaying curtain over the openings out to her balcony. They don’t block out the light in the slightest, but they do delay sunbeams from reflecting directly into her eyes, and after the exhaustion of the day before, it is enough.

When Adora wakes, it must be nearing mid-morning. The sun is flickering across the walls of her room as the vines wave in the breeze. The canopy around her bed is pulled almost fully closed, creating a cocoon that does little to mitigate the room full of light, but is at the very least cozy. The sunbeams fall upon the crystals hanging about the room, reflecting the beams all around in a brilliant display of light. To think when she first saw them, Adora thought the crystals were useless decoration.

Beside her, there is a shift in the sheets, and Adora feels her heart stop.

It is not that she has forgotten – this is something she could never forget, not for the rest of her life. It is just that her mind was not fully awake, only capable of vaguely processing the world around her. The events of the day previous had not yet dawned on her. She turns her head, gazing down at the girl curled against her chest. Catra’s head rests on her chest, tail and one leg wrapped around her, an arm loosely slung over her shoulder. Her body is entirely lax, face peaceful as she slowly breathes in and out in her sleep, and yet it is the most effective pin Adora has ever been in. She cannot look away or even consider moving – her breath has been stolen away by the sleeping girl. Somewhere in the edge of her mind, she is vaguely aware of Melog producing a gentle rumbling in their sleep on the floor below, but the sound cannot compare to the gentle vibrations emanating from the chest of the smaller girl draped across her.

Catra’s purr has always been near-silent, more of a sensation than a sound, but now with her entire body relaxed against Adora it is a perceptible rumble. Cautiously, Adora lifts the arm she has wrapped across the other girl. When Catra does not stir, she slowly begins to stroke down the length of her back. The sensation of Catra’s fur – and once she passes Catra’s shoulder blades, Adora’s own night shirt clinging to the smaller girl – sliding against her fingers sends a shiver through her. It should not be the profound feeling it is, but Adora has spent so much of her life waking up beside Catra and wanting to reach out without understanding why that the sudden realization she is allowed to feels like a lightning bolt. The years she was without her, fighting her on opposites sides of the war, have only intensified the feeling.

She could not imagine a more beautiful way for her hope to crystalize into a reality. In a room filled with the morning dawn, the soft whisper of leaves rustling outside, a beautiful dance of sunbeams and shadows playing across the room around them, and Catra’s soft purr vibrating through the both of them, Adora feels like her heart could burst.

Catra’s face twitches in her sleep. Adora manages to still her hand for a moment, but then she cannot feel the soft touch of Catra’s fur, or the slide of her body beneath her, and it is too much to be without. She lifts her hand and begins stroking down the length of Catra’s back again. The shorter girl turns her head, pressing it against Adora’s neck in her sleep, and her purr grows louder. Adora knows, practically, that the vibrations aren’t that strong, but she swears she can feel it all the way in her toes.

Catra hums and Adora manages to still her hand again, though not without an internal fight. “Don’t stop,” comes a soft rumble against her neck. Adora feels all her hair stand on end as Catra’s breath ghosts against her skin. She shivers lightly, resuming her ministrations.

“Good morning,” she murmurs to the other girl, turning her head to tuck her face against her hair. Soft fur tickles against her face. The feeling in her chest, like she might burst open with joy at any second, is only growing.

Catra pulls her head back a little to yawn, a tiny squeak not dissimilar to her sneeze in sound, and Adora whines at the loss.

“Relax, dork, it’s only a few inches,” Catra teases, smiling down at her. Her eyes are half-open, peering down at her lazily, and her short hair is all mussed up on one side from sleeping on it.

“You’re beautiful,” Adora spills out, unable to hold the words in any longer. She knows, logically, she hasn’t been holding onto the words since the moment she was born – that she hadn’t even met Catra yet – but it still feels like she has been holding them back for every moment of her 20 years.

Catra shivers, her gaze almost falling closed as she lets out a soft whine. “Good morning to you too,” she manages, her voice little shaky.

“Was that too much? Was that okay?” Adora asks, knowing her worry is written plainly across her face. She has so much she has wanted to say for so long – so much love she has wanted to give. The confession yesterday had felt like permission to finally tell the girl she loves all she feels for her – but what if it is too much? What if she overwhelms her, causes her to run away again? Catra has always needed her space, always needed time.

The other girl pulls her out of her thoughts, moving the arm that was draped over her shoulder to gently cup her face. Adora lets her eyes fall closed for a moment, leaning into the touch, before realizing she needs to be able to see Catra’s face and opening her eyes again. Catra is gazing down at her with obvious love. Adora presses up into the other girl’s touch.

“You stopped,” Catra says in lieu of an answer. Adora’s mind takes a minute to catch up, racing through the possibilities of what Catra could mean before she realizes she has both her hands pressed against Catra’s lower back, stilled compared to her previous petting.

It is not a statement in lieu of an answer – it is the answer. Adora thinks she may be shaking, she feels like she is, but she does not know what it could be from. All she knows is she needs to get closer to the smaller girl.

Cautiously, she slides her hands down to the hem of Catra’s – (her) – top. “Can I take this off?” she asks, staring up at the other girl.

Catra definitely shakes at that, a shiver running down her body. Her eyes fall closed with it for a moment, but when she opens them again she is staring back at Adora intensely. “A bit eager this morning, huh?” she teases. She is smirking slightly, but Adora can hear a nervous edge in her voice. She continues to toy with the hem of the top.

“Not like that. I just – I want to pet you. Properly. I’ve thought about this – a lot. Not that I’m opposed to it being like that, it just seems fast, I mean we only-“ she is rambling, she knows it, but it is kind of what she does when nervous, and her chest is bursting with so many words.

“Adora,” Catra cuts her off, placing a hand gently on her chest. Adora bites down on her lip to cease the tirade threatening to spill forth. In the back of her mind, she realizes Catra is still purring. Maybe purring again, actually. It doesn’t matter. She is gazing down at her fondly. “Yes, you can.”

Adora pulls at the top with a level of self-restraint previously unknown to Etheria. She wants the offending fabric gone – gone from Catra’s back, gone from this plane of existence – but she gently pulls it away from Catra’s form. The shorter girl sits up more properly so she can raise her arms over her head, help her pull it off, and Adora doesn’t pay attention to where she throws the thing. She keeps her eyes locked on Catra’s face, still biting her lip and knowing her blush must be furious. Catra smirks at her again as she lowers herself back down to press against Adora once more.

Adora lets her bottom lip go, as well as a breath she had been holding, and lifts her lightly shaking hands to place them onto Catra’s shoulder blades. She flexes her hands a bit, relishing in the feeling of Catra’s fur, muscles, skin beneath her hands before she resumes petting down the length of Catra’s back, uninterrupted by fabric. Catra hardly ever wore bras – the compression top and underwear she had been forced to wear for a while in lieu of proper clothes back on Darla had probably been the first bra she had worn in years – and though this fact used to be the bane of teenage Adora’s existence, she is glad for it now.

She hums to herself as she pets her fur, thicker around her shoulder blades, silk soft by the time she reaches the other girl’s lower back. When she reaches the base of the other girl’s tail, she drags blunt fingernails against the skin there, scratching lightly at the area she knows to be sensitive from their teenage years. Catra moans, turning her face to muffle the sound against Adora’s neck. The motion doesn’t help – instead Adora just feels it rumble through her skin, sending a shiver through her body.

She lifts her hands to Catra’s shoulders again and she feels Catra’s body go limp against her. She hadn’t realized the other girl had tensed until the stress was gone. Slowly, she pets down her again, repeating the drag of her nails against her lower back. Catra manages to stay silent this time, but the tension returns in her body as she shivers, hips stuttering slightly. The realization lands on Adora like a hit in battle – that Catra had tensed to hold the rut of her hips back. When Adora raises her hands to repeat the process, she can feel them shaking lightly.

This time she drags her nails down the length of Catra’s back, flattening her hand out to a pet by the time she reaches the base of her tail. It was too much, too fast, maybe. Catra shivers against her again, but she doesn’t force herself to tense, and she presses closer against Adora. Adora feels her breath ghosting over her collarbone.

It is too much. She has been holding it in all morning – and all her life, really.

“I love you,” she whispers into the other girl’s hair. Catra purrs, arching her back into Adora’s touch as she continues to pet and scratch down her girlfriend’s back.

“You’re beautiful,” she adds again. Catra shivers, and the floodgates break. “You- you’re so beautiful. Even in the heat of battle, I could never take my eyes off you. Couldn’t stop myself running after you. I thought I knew that we could never be friends again – could never be like _this_ – but I couldn’t let myself accept it. Couldn’t let you go.”

Catra whines. The younger girl is shaking, and Adora worries it is too much, but she still knows Catra well enough to tell the other girl is enjoying herself – perhaps in a way she never has before. This version of Catra, putty against her hands, is not one she knows, at least not yet, but damn would she like to. For the moment, all of Catra’s signals seem to be telling her to _go on_.

“You’re so brilliant, too,” Adora adds, because she can, and she wants to - because she is thinking about all those times she chased after Catra on the battlefield, abandoning every other cause and fight because she knew the other girl could get to her, but also had not realized she already had just by appearing. “Even when you were fighting against us, when I should have been mad at all you were doing, I couldn’t stop myself from admiring you. Your plans, your strategy, your ability to lay traps. Your- your mind-“ Adora stutters, face flushing. Catra stays silent. Adora wishes she would say something because if she doesn’t the words will come spilling out and she’ll admit, “I always found it sexy. The way your mind worked, the things you could do with it.”

Her face is hot. Catra is squirming against her, as if to pull back to look at her again. Adora thinks she might spontaneously combust if she has to look Catra in the face now. It is an unfair distraction technique, but the two of them have always fought dirty, so she drags her nails against the base of Catra’s tail. Catra’s arms shake and she falls against her again.

“It’s always been you,” Adora continues, hoping to bury that particular confession. Catra groans against her neck. Her tail is lashing back and forth – none of her other signals give off irritation, but the tail alone seems to indicate she is worked up so-

 _Oh,_ comes the realization. _That's why_. Adora scratches her nails down the entire length of Catra’s back again. “I’ve always loved watching you. When we were training together, or better yet when you were up against someone else and I got to just watch you move –“ Catra groans, “- got to just watch you strategize. You’re so – It’s not _fair_ ,” Adora complains, unable to sound petulant when her voice is so breathy, “Just the sight of you has always been enough to take my breath away. Your voice – your voice alone could drive me up the wall. Catra, earlier I was watching you breathe in your sleep and it was making me lose my mind.”

Catra is clutching her shoulders, pressing her face against Adora’s neck. As Adora’s hands move down her back – she still couldn’t get enough of the feeling of the other girl against her – Catra arches her back and presses up into her touch. Her tail continues to lash back and forth, body shaking slightly as she lets out noises between a purr and a groan.

“Creep,” Catra manages to huff into her neck, completely breathless.

“You love it,” Adora shoots back. Catra shakes again and Adora – Adora realizes her mind is hazy with her need to communicate to Catra her love for her. She doesn’t know the words for it – is pretty sure there aren’t words strong enough to convey it – but the affection is clearly having an effect on Catra nonetheless, even if it is a different kind than she had initially intended. “Is this okay?” she asks again. Catra lets out a huff against her neck.

“I love you,” ghosts across her neck.

Adora shivers, but she has to point out, “That’s not an answer, it’s a dodge.”

Catra grumbles against her neck, presses closer. “Adora, you’re making me lose my mind. I can barely talk,” Catra answers. It is not an explicit yes, except for how thoroughly it _is_. Adora knew the effect she was having on the other girl, she could plainly tell, but to hear her say it is a whole other matter.

“You like hearing how amazing you are?” she teases, scratching her way back up the length of Catra’s back instead of pulling her hand away for the journey. Catra shakes – at the touch or the words, Adora’s not sure. “You’re so brilliant. So capable. And gorgeous on top of all of it, because of course I can’t know a moment of peace. I love you,” she finishes, though it doesn’t feel like enough.

Catra doesn’t seem to agree at the lack of substance – she trembles under Adora’s words and touch, a purr beginning to rumble through her again. Adora is not sure when she stopped - somewhere in the needy noises, surely. She has been a trembling mess most of this time, and the fact that Adora is the one that put her in that state is something she will not be able to drive from her mind soon – not until they reach the point where Adora can put her in that state and then ease her over the edge of it, too. But today, the first morning of the rest of their lives, is not that day. Not yet.

Adora’s chest felt like it was going to burst when she woke up this morning, but now – with Catra shivering against her – she just feels full. Full of love, and pride, and adoration for the girl above her. She slows her petting. She has no intention of stopping, but she knows the two of them are teetering toward that edge they are not ready for yet. Catra relaxes into her touch, no longer shaking from her words, seeming to understand. Adora strokes her through the come down as, slowly, they both start to breathe normally again, the coil of need inside loosening.

The morning light bounces around the room. In the distance, she can make out movement as the castle begins to awake, or perhaps as reconstruction efforts already begin. Melog is certainly awake now – they stand up at the side of the bed and lay their head against the mattress – but the soft rumbling they had been making continues. Hazily, Catra reaches out in Melog’s general direction without moving her face away from Adora’s neck. The creature has to nudge their head into Catra’s touch, but once they make contact Catra sets to blindly returning the pets Adora has been giving her.

It is the kind of morning after – morning after the war – that Adora never could have let herself imagine, not when she was sure she would lose herself to the cause. But she also knows there is no reality in which she could ask for something better. Not with how the love of her life, now her girlfriend, is pressed against her and purring with content.


End file.
